The Chicago Tribute -- Monday, April 6, 1896

GETS A MEDAL AT LAST

Capt. Palmer waits thirty-five years for a reward.

During the war he performed and act of distinguished gallantry and his grateful country finally remembers it and presents him with a souvenir. At Lexington, Mo., Sept. 20, 1661, he volunteered to lead a charge on the Confederates.

After thirty-five years of waiting Capt. George H. Palmer, Sixteenth United States Infantry, was awarded a medal last week for most distinguished gallantry in action at the battle of Lexington, Mo., on Sept. 20, 1861.

The medal was received by mail accompanied by the following letter:

Capt. George H. Palmer, Sixteenth United States Infantry, No. 82, West Madison Street, Chicago, Ill. - Sir: I have the honor to inform you that by the direction of the President and in accordance with the act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, providing for the presentation of medals of honor to such officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates as have most distinguished themselves in action, the Assistant Secretary of War has awarded you a medal of honor for the most distinguished gallantry in action at the battle of Lexington, Mo., on Sept. 20, 1861, [torn] volunteering to fight in the trenches and also in leading a charge which resulted in the recapture of a union hospital together with the capture of rebel sharpshooters then occupying the same. The medal has been forwarded to you today by registered mail. Upon receipt of it please advise this office thereof. Very respectfully F. H. Ainsworth, Colonel, United States Army, Chief Record and Pension Office.

WHO CAPT. PALMER IS

Capt. George H. Palmer was born on April 16, 1841 at Leonardsville, Madison County, N.Y. When 5 years of age his family moved to Illinois, traveling according to the primitive mode of early times, and finally settled in Monmouth, Warren County. Capt. Palmer comes of good ancestry, for his great grandfather was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and was at Saratoga when Burgoyne surrendered. His grandfather was a Major-General of the New York militia. His father was paymaster and Captain of Dragoons, commissioned by William H. Seward and was an officer of the cavalry in the Mexican War and Captain of the First Illinois Cavalry in the Rebellion.

Capt. Palmer in 1861 was a private in Company [smudged], First Illinois Cavalry, of which his father was Captain. On. Sept. 18, when they were stationed at Lexington, Gen. Price with 25,000 men attacked the Union forces, which numbered only 2,700 men. On the 19th the Confederates took the hospital, just outside the Union lines. The building was constructed of brick and afforded [Rest missing]

From a transcription.